Dwarica, distinguished practitioner in residence of health law at the university since 2010, was previously an adjunct professor of law from 2001 to 2004 and again from 2008 to 2010 at Quinnipiac.

As part of his new role, he will be responsible for maintaining an active relationship with the university’s Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine to bring law and medical students closer together.

“We hope to cultivate that relationship and ensure the medical school students know our law students are not their enemies, but rather part of the health care delivery team,” Dwarica said. “Right now, if you ask any physician, most will say they view lawyers as the enemy. We hope to change that.”

He said he hopes to get medical students involved with lawyers who can offer advice and guidance as well as answer their questions.

“We want the medical students to view attorneys as their colleagues,” Dwarica said. “As a doctor, you need to understand as much about the environment of medical practice as possible. We can help the medical school faculty teach the medical students valuable information that is not part of the medical curriculum.”

In turn, he said, the law students will have the opportunity to better understand how doctors are trained to provide quality health care.

“We are trying to shape a sense of cooperation,” Dwarica said. “We are all in this together.”

He said it is a wonderful time to go into the practice of health law.

“It is one of the most challenging and stimulating areas in which an attorney can choose to practice,” he said. “The enactment and implementation of various health care programs, at both the federal and state levels, have expanded the opportunities for attorneys who have broad backgrounds in the various areas of expertise which comprise health law.”

Previously, he was senior counsel at the Bayer Corporation.

“Professor Dwarica’s practice experience, analytical abilities and interpersonal skills will help to catalyze a new era in the study of health law and policy,” said John Thomas, professor in the Quinnipiac University School of Law.

The Center for Health Law and Policy provides law students with the knowledge, skills and experience essential to a career in health care law.

Together with the Health Law Society, the center arranges numerous informal talks by health law practitioners, who inform students about opportunities in the many subfields of health law practice. In addition, the center sponsors a health care law speaker series that brings leading experts to the School of Law to speak on emerging trends.

Dwarica earned a law degree from the Pace University School of Law, a master’s degree in biology from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in pre-medical sciences from St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, N.J. He is a retired colonel in the Medical Service Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve.

He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Connecticut State Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association and is admitted to practice in the states of New York and New Jersey.

Dwarica is married to Geri, his wife of 47 years. They are the parents to three sons: Len, Scott and Christopher.

Quinnipiac University

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 6,500 full-time undergraduate and 2,500 graduate students in 58 undergraduate and more than 20 graduate programs of study in its School of Business and Engineering, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, School of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges issue. The 2014 issue of U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges named Quinnipiac as the top up-and-coming school with master’s programs in the Northern Region. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review’s “The Best 377 Colleges.” The Chronicle of Higher Education has named Quinnipiac among the “Great Colleges to Work For.” For more information, please visit www.quinnipiac.edu. Connect with Quinnipiac on Facebook at www.facebook.com/quinnipiacuniversity and follow Quinnipiac on Twitter @QuinnipiacU.